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What is Prop 1 in NY? What you need to know about the 2024 ballot proposition

Online Niel October 30, 2024

There’s a statewide proposition on the back of the ballot this year, and you may have seen signs about it in Rochester-area neighborhoods. What is Prop 1 in the 2024 election? And who supports or opposes them?

What is Prop 1?

The Equal Rights Amendment, or Prop 1, is a state constitutional amendment that would prohibit discrimination in reproductive health and other categories such as sexual orientation, national origin and age.

The ballot proposal would expand protections already provided in the New York constitution, particularly this language: “No person shall be denied the equal protection of the laws of this state or of any subdivision thereof. No person shall, on account of race, color, creed or religion, be subjected to any discrimination in his civil rights by any other person or by any firm, corporation or institution, or by the State or any agency or subdivision of the State. .”

Prop 1 would add those protections to ethnicity, national origin, age, disability and sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes and reproductive health care and autonomy.

It would also add language that nothing in the amendment would prevent future legislation designed to “prevent or eliminate discrimination” based on any of the protected characteristics and not allow any protected characteristic to “interfere with, limit, or deny” rights civil of another. person.

How will Prop 1 read on the ballot?

As is the amendment itself. Supporters tried in vain to add the terms “abortion” and “LGBTQ” to the ballot question to make it easier to understand, arguing it was too “legalistic” as written and could confuse voters. A state judge denied that request in late August.

Prop 1 will be described on the ballot as an “amendment to protect against unequal treatment.” Voters will be asked to vote “yes” or “no” on adding new protections to the constitution, which are worded as follows:

“This proposal would protect against unequal treatment based on ethnicity, national origin, age, disability and sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity and pregnancy. It also protects against unequal treatment based on reproductive health care and autonomy.”

How did the proposal come about?

The push to update the state’s 1938 equal rights amendment began in 2019 with Sen. Liz Krueger, D-Manhattan. Krueger’s proposal, which added new categories to be protected against discrimination, such as national origin, sexual orientation, and pregnancy, passed the Senate that year but was not taken up by the Assembly.

The bill remained on hold until June 2022, when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Democratic majorities in the House and Senate have twice passed a slightly modified version of Krueger’s proposal, as required for constitutional amendments, and it now goes before voters in the 2024 general election.

Who supports or opposes Prop 1?

Two groups have come to the forefront of the proposal: New Yorkers for Equal Rights, in favor, and the Coalition to Protect Children, in opposition.

The New Yorkers for Equal Rights Coalition includes a number of groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union, the NAACP New York and Planned Parenthood. Local supporters include AAUW Greater Rochester Area, First Unitarian Church of Rochester, Greater Rochester NOW, League of Women Voters of Rochester Metro Area and NAACP Rochester Branch.

Another local supporter is Planned Parenthood of Central and Western New York, and CEO Michelle Casey said all New Yorkers deserve to be in control of their own lives, futures and health care decisions without government interference.

The repeal of Roe v Wade shocked people who believed their rights and freedoms would always be protected, Casey said. Since the repeal, reproductive rights such as abortion, birth control and IVF have come under attack across the country, she said.

While the state now has a pro-choice Legislature and governor, that’s not always the case in New York, Casey said, so this is an opportunity to secure current rights in the state constitution.

“I think we have loopholes in our constitution where people are not specifically protected,” Casey said. “It will cement our current rights in the constitution and help people make decisions privately without government interference.”

The Child Protection Coalition describes itself as a diverse community of people and organizations, both secular and faith-based. On its website, the group says its study of the Equal Rights Amendment appears to contain “unspoken hostility toward parents and parental rights.”

The coalition, which instead refers to the amendment as the “Parental Replacement Act,” is backed by several donors, including Carol Crossed, an anti-abortion activist and board vice president for Feminists Choosing Life of New York.

Crossed said her concerns include adding age to the list of protected classes because of concerns it would enfranchise minors and school staff who belong to parents, and including gender as a protected class that could allow biological males to participate in women’s sports.

Crossed also said the wording of the proposal is confusing in how it would balance the rights of various groups protected by the amendment. “It seems like what we the people are voting on, what we’re being asked to vote on as citizens, we shouldn’t have to be lawyers to understand,” she said.

The New York Bar Association issued a statement regarding Proposition 1 in early October, saying in part that the proposal would not affect parents’ rights, which are governed by other areas of state and federal law.

PolitiFact found a statement on the Coalition to Protect Kids website to be “mostly true”: “ERA could also require schools to allow biological males to compete in girls’ sports.” PolitiFact’s finding said New York already has protections for high school athletes to compete on teams that align with their gender identity, including under state education law and through the New York State Public High School Athletic Association , but acknowledged that a constitutional amendment would strengthen them. existing anti-discrimination protections.

— This story includes reporting by The Journal News reporter Chris McKenna.

— Steve Howe weather, climate and Great Lakes reports for Democrat and Chronicle. A graduate of RIT, he has covered countless topics over the years, including public safety, local government, national politics and economic development in New York and Utah.